Liverpool to make late call on Salah, Nunez, Szoboszlai availability for Carabao Cup final – Lijnders

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 20: Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates with teammate Darwin Nunez after scoring their team's fourth goal during the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield on December 20, 2023 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
By James Pearce
Feb 23, 2024

Pep Lijnders says Liverpool will make a late decision on the availability of Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.

The trio are the only players on the club’s extensive list of recent absentees with an outside chance of featuring at Wembley. Salah and Nunez missed the midweek win over Luton Town due to minor muscle issues, while Szoboszlai has been sidelined since the end of January by a hamstring problem.

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“Dom, Darwin, and Mo, we have to really see,” said assistant boss Lijnders.

“We have two more days. Today’s session and tomorrow’s session. In the last minute we will check. If they can be there it will be great to be honest.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold (lateral collateral ligament), Alisson Becker (hamstring), Curtis Jones (ankle) and Diogo Jota (medial ligament) are not expected to be fit until after the March international break. Thiago, Stefan Bajcetic, Ben Doak and Joel Matip also remain sidelined.

“Curtis has a high ankle strain. He will be (back) in and around the international break,” Lijnders added.

“Ali, muscle injury, after the international break, it will really take time. Trent, lateral ligament. Jots, medial ligament. Both will be after the international break too.

“The good thing we always did in the past is we look to what we have. You need to accept what you have and not look at what you don’t have, it brought us success in the past and we try to keep that up. I feel really happy with that.

“With a few injuries, you get young players and players who didn’t play five games in a row but who can show up now. That’s really cool. This season is a season where we have created three or four new teams in a season, it’s a compliment to our squad and the academy.”

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(Michael Regan/Getty Images)

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James Pearce

James Pearce joins the Athletic after 14 years working for the Liverpool Echo. The dad-of-two has spent the past decade covering the fortunes of Liverpool FC across the globe to give fans the inside track on the Reds from the dressing room to the boardroom. Follow James on Twitter @JamesPearceLFC